We waste so many chances to score goals. Max fiddles with the ball and drops it from too high a position. Don't know why players have to toss the ball around before kicking for goals. Why can't they have a set routine. Do they ever have a dedicated time to practice goal kicking at training  as opposed to kicking for fun  in competitions with each other. We need to improve our kicking for goal and get the best kicking goal going around otherwise we'll keep losing close games because of our inaccuracy. Strange that there are so many bad kicks in AFL, you'd think they want elite kicks rather than scrubbers who murder the ball.

For a game called football it has always bothered me that so many players who make it to the top echelon, ie.afl, have very poor kicking actions.

Particularly in the professional era when talented juniors are identified early, like very early teens, they usually go into relatively elite coaching programs that concentrate on bringing out their potential by developing their skills and temperament. While their bodies are still growing and have not fully developed would surely be the time to correct poor/incorrect actions.

Why are elite junior athletes like our very own Max Gawn, Petracca and Oliver arriving as 18 year olds at afl clubs with poor kicking actions. And why do so very very few not have the ability to kick both sides of their body(not to mention handball). I don’t know and would appreciate comments from people “in the know”

Then as professional sportspeople working at their sport/craft at least 40 hours per week from the age of 18 very few seem to improve their kicking skills as they mature.

Let’s be honest, go watch a game of footy at your local park. They are elite kicks.

Our issue is often our set shot accuracy is poor because of the position we kick from. Collingwood had far too much ball straight and deep - so a lot of kickable shots.

BT ? 

At least it would get him off the TV and he's clearly an expert.

I have heard him say so

The irony is that the Irish who come over end up being accurate kicks. The same could be said of Mason Cox. Their kicking action may not look pure, but the only thing that matters is the ball drop. 

The two examples of players who went from being poor kicks for goal to reliable, are Stewart Loewe and Russell Robertson. So it is achievable.

But as others have mentioned, it's where we are taking the shots that hurts us. 

 

 

10 minutes ago, mo64 said:

The irony is that the Irish who come over end up being accurate kicks. The same could be said of Mason Cox. Their kicking action may not look pure, but the only thing that matters is the ball drop. 

The two examples of players who went from being poor kicks for goal to reliable, are Stewart Loewe and Russell Robertson. So it is achievable.

But as others have mentioned, it's where we are taking the shots that hurts us. 

 

 

I still fantasise a shot from the boundary in the last minute that buries either the Cats or the Pies( I don't care which).

I just can't think who might be able to do it..

Fritsch , b.brown , Spargo I have some level of confidence that they will slot them.

Everyone else i expect will miss when lining up especially a set shot 

1 hour ago, Bates Mate said:

Fritsch , b.brown , Spargo I have some level of confidence that they will slot them.

Everyone else i expect will miss when lining up especially a set shot 

Yeah as long as it's no more than 40 metres Spargo would be the man for mine.

He got one from there against the Hawks after the first quarter siren in ..2018(?) It was at his absolute limit but I think he's got another 5 metres these days.

Clutch goals on the siren Fritta and Raggedy Anne I am not sure.

Kicking to finish off the Pies with 5/10 minutes to go ,certainly

Edited August 7, 20222 yr by IRW

Max was going pretty well this season up until his injury.  Certainly in his last few games he's been jittery in front of the sticks.  He seems to have added a bit of a skip at the start of his run up.  He's always spun the ball around.  Still we haven't been terrible overall - 13-11 is not a particularly inaccurate performance and should've been enough to get the job done.  The problem was more Collingwood's number of easy shots and as a consequence their incredible accuracy.  15-6 doesn't happen that often.

3 hours ago, IRW said:

I still fantasise a shot from the boundary in the last minute that buries either the Cats or the Pies( I don't care which).

I just can't think who might be able to do it..

Dom Sheed.

Greg Stafford was or is in charge of set shot goal kicking routine techniques last time i recall.

Ben Holland?

One of the best kicks in the team struggles to get a regular game - Melksham.  Weideman is another who kicks the ball well but again, can't get the ball enough

We've got a number of players who's kicking to position could be described as adequate only.  Ok and alright(ish), but not dynamic

At their best, Salem, May & Brown can be very good.  Pickett & Fritsch can be good also

If we improved our general field kicking then a flow-on effect could be that we'd better in front of goal.  Also, we'd be less inclined to turn the ball over once we enter the forward 50

It's been an issue for a long time now.  And yet we have days when our kicking for goal is excellent

As has been mentioned, the Pies showed us up in terms of how their shots for goal were often from the hot spot area (up to 35 metres out without much of an angle ... or straight in front)

If we persist with the left forward pocket as the avenue of attack, it stands to reason that we can end up in difficult positions to score from.  Other times, our midfielders get pushed wide with their forward 50 entries

Using the corridor more requires precision kicking to position and of late, we've been shying way from using the corridor as frequently.  Having great vision can often go hand in hand with regards to hitting targets along with good kicking techniques

So it's a confidence issue as well

37 minutes ago, Macca said:

If we persist with the left forward pocket as the avenue of attack, it stands to reason that we can end up in difficult positions to score from

If so that's where they need to practice shooting from.

I agree it would be better to be in front but if you can improve the pocket shot by 20% you win most games

Headphones.... screaming distracting noises.... practice

Edited August 7, 20222 yr by Diamond_Jim

9 hours ago, IRW said:

Yeah as long as it's no more than 40 metres Spargo would be the man for mine.

He got one from there against the Hawks after the first quarter siren in ..2018(?) It was at his absolute limit but I think he's got another 5 metres these days.

Clutch goals on the siren Fritta and Raggedy Anne I am not sure.

Kicking to finish off the Pies with 5/10 minutes to go ,certainly

Sparrow does alright from a set shot or kicking straight 40-50m out. He rarely gets a shot, but he nails them.

Edited August 7, 20222 yr by John Demonic

Lobb will fix our kicking problems? Next year too soon?

1 minute ago, Diamond_Jim said:

If so that's where they need to practice shooting from.

I agree it would be better to be in front but if you can improve the pocket shot by 20% you win most games

I reckon we are good enough to have forward entries like the Pies have

Our midfielders need to practice more of those 15m - 35m passes (lowering the eyes as an add-on) along with having a couple of better players in our forward line (players who can create separation and present) 

I'd be using Petracca forward and I'd bring in Van Rooyen.  Out go ANB & Spargo whilst Brown, Fritsch, Kossie & Gawn remain.  Bowey can be the spare small forward ... his skills can be used anywhere

We've got too many small forwards who don't do enough and our midfielders need to be coached up to kick the ball into the forward line with greater purpose and efficiency

We can always learn from a loss and the Pies have shown us how to work the ball into the forward line to great effect

Nothing they did was a fluke.  You make your own luck

6 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

Greg Stafford was or is in charge of set shot goal kicking routine techniques last time i recall.

I have done this at a couple of Ammo clubs and developed a couple of things which greatly assist nailing set shots but two things which the club should stop immediately are

1 This ball twirl rubbish.

2 This exaggerated arc run approach

I agree with everything being said here. However if the case was as simple as this then why haven't we put everything into goalkicking practice and kicking coaches etc. The fact is that it's not just about that. On Fri we had some fairly good kicks in Ben Brown and Christian Salem miss some reasonable chances not to mention a Bayley Fritsch snap at the end of the half that he usually buries that would have put us 27 up (then bang 2 goal turnaround). 

Like I said, I agree with everything said here but my point is that you can bring in some of the best kicks known to man and you can still end up missing chances. A 5% improvement on this would have won us the game, there has to be ways of getting this improvement without busting the bank to bring in BT or Simon Beasley or Fred Fanning or whoever everyone think the messiah of kicking is. Whether it is maximising positioning where shots are taken, working more on the mental side or something else. 

From The Hun today Petracca 58 shots for 16 goals Gawn 34 shots for 11 goals ANB 25 shots for 6 goals and Spargo 22 shots for 9 goal no wonder Bayley Fritsch doesn't like to pass off. 

8 minutes ago, Mr Steve said:

From The Hun today Petracca 58 shots for 16 goals Gawn 34 shots for 11 goals ANB 25 shots for 6 goals and Spargo 22 shots for 9 goal no wonder Bayley Fritsch doesn't like to pass off. 

Horrible conversion. I automatically mark anb down as a point in the footy record from set shots and he never fails to miss

Geezzz 40 goals from 139 shots from those four players, that’s another 3 wins and percentage down the tube.!!!!

18 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

Geezzz 40 goals from 139 shots from those four players, that’s another 3 wins and percentage down the tube.!!!!

It certainly would have given us a good chance to have won 3 of our 6 loses and that puts us on top. 

I might be wrong but I cannot think of one game that we won this year because we did kick straight. 

Maybe Choco needs to get the footy out that he markets to kids (that has a stripe down the middle)  to teach them how to kick straight….. and give it to a few of our ‘goal kickers’ .  Back to the basics.

Edited August 8, 20222 yr by Wodjathefirst

48 minutes ago, Bates Mate said:

Horrible conversion. I automatically mark anb down as a point in the footy record from set shots and he never fails to miss

Its worse than that, how full time sportsmen who cannot convert bread and butter goals says something about Coaching, Technique and or Volition to do somethging about it!